QUIET ELECTRICITY

The foothills of the Sierra Nevada were home for many years and they continue to be a reservoir of inspiration. During the next four years I worked in San Jose, Los Angeles and Fresno. Then the opportunity came to actually live on unimproved land with a view of the high Sierra from east of Fresno to Bakersfield. It was a once in a lifetime chance to be a pioneer in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I wrote Quiet Electricity to share some of the joy and frustration, humor and pathos I experienced during this time.

Quiet Electricity is the story of living on a five-acre parcel in the Sierra with no water, no electricity - and the delights and problems of bringing civilization to the home site. I was both thrilled with the idea of living where no one else had ever lived after being in cities for too long, and concerned how to exist without electricity or running water where wild animals roamed at night. The primitive condition was supposed to last about two weeks but turned into seven months, but through it all was peace -- both internal and external.

In the beginning I would marvel at the quietness where one could hear the hum of insects and the sound of bird wings in flight. In the end I reflected how civilization with its constant hum of small motors such as the electric clock are ignored as we enjoy the electric network we have ourselves attached to. And one can no longer hear the tiny sounds of nature. We put in our own water system, sewer and electric lines, and through it all lived in harmony with the garden, the chickens, and assorted wild life of the area. We were an extended family of seven lived in two small travel trailers - through the summer into winter, until all our work finally passed county inspection. Through it all our source of electricity was a noisy generator as our lives were held together with bungee cords and covered with blue tarp.

Quiet Electricity is more than just how we existed -- it is the story of civilization and the primitive. It is about what we have forgotten in our quest for progress, and what we give up. One becomes detached from world events, even from regional events when isolated from the cities. When we lived for a few months in the center of the Bay Area, or in East L.A. or even in Fresno, the previous years of rural life diminished in memory. We were caught up in thoughts of traffic, of city government, and academia and intellectual pursuits.
After most of a summer again in the quiet peace of the countryside, all that involved city life faded to a large degree. Perhaps it would not have been so had we stayed tuned to the RV and went out more. Or even had a daily paper.
Perhaps this life was more real. We were tuned to nature, again able to read the weather from the flora and fauna. We became one with the wildlife and their activities. We co-existed on a personal level with the woodpeckers, the gophers, the hawks. Some would say this was more primitive than city life. Having experiences both in a short period of time, I am not convinced that city life is any progress at all.

There are sections of delightful humor, and sections of trouble and frustrations. Through it all, Quiet Electricity is a mix of thought provoking depth, and light entertainment.